It\u2019s been highly anticipated but does it live up to its promise?<\/p>\n
\n I\u2019ve never been asked so much about a new restaurant. Partly it\u2019s the address \u2013 the old Ponsonby Road Bistro \u2013 and partly it\u2019s the chef: \u201cMichelin\u201d Matt Lambert. He\u2019s called it Return, a reference to the few
\n years he spent as the toast of Manhattan before coming back to New Zealand. There was an in-between period where he launched a chain of restaurants attached to a moleskin-based menswear brand but this restaurant, where his brilliant wife Barbara runs front-of-house, really does feel like his first completely compromise-free endeavour.\n <\/p>\n
Lambert would probably protest if I called this a fine dining restaurant, but it has a lot of the markers, including white tablecloths and exceptionally fancy presentation. Best of all, it has a dedicated sommelier \u2013 the one thing that turns a good restaurant into a great one. If you love wine, there is absolutely nothing better than having somebody come tableside and chat about what they have open this evening. On a couple of occasions, Return\u2019s sommelier approached and poured a taste from a wine bottle hidden in a bag – \u201ctell me what you think of this\u201d, he said, then returned a few minutes later for the big reveal (I got close on one but the other, an exquisite Neudorf Amphora chardonnay, completely bamboozled me). <\/p>\n
Return is owned and operated by Matt and Barbara Lambert. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
This sort of moment provides a strong answer to the question \u201cwhy bother leaving the house?\u201d Most of us can cook pretty well now; our homes are set up like palaces. Any chef asking people to spend money on his food must make an unimpeachable case, and that\u2019s exactly what Lambert and his team are doing here. <\/p>\n
Ideally, you\u2019ll begin with \u201csnacks\u201d, a word that deliberately underplays the level of intense labour that goes into creating them. Deep-fried bone marrow doughnut with kina is unlike anything you\u2019ve seen before, all that fat swamping the taste buds and making the strange flavour of the urchin slide down a little easier. <\/p>\n
The mushrooms on sourdough. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
His mushroom and sourdough might be the most beautiful dish I\u2019ve seen in a restaurant this year. Precisely geometric, the mushroom parfait arrives like a little slice of tiramisu on a crunchy cracker, its top surface coloured with a squiggle of darkly intense mushroom gel (long story). Finally, there are tiny orange and lilac flower petals and pickled enoki caps, each the size of a match head. Like I say, this might not officially be fine dining but there is no visual, technical or price difference between this and something they\u2019d serve at The French Cafe. <\/p>\n
Based on what I experienced, you could order anything from this menu and come away very happy. The duck entree reminded me of good brisket \u2013 none of the lean meat blues that can dog this protein, just a glistening, tender mouthful cut thin and expertly against the grain to remove all trace of muscle fibre resistance. It came with a very savoury cherry jus, one plump pickled blackberry and a pureed \u201cbread sauce\u201d that had the silky luxury of foie gras. I could write a whole page on the salmon, an Ora King study in three parts, including a \u201cbelly-and-trim sausage\u201d that emphasises his nose-to-tail-fin approach. <\/p>\n
Return’s Ora King Salmon. Photo \/ Babiche Martens
The Awatoru wild venison. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
My venison main was just a lovely piece of meat. It was a tough choice between that and the fish, but what a great chance to eat something that feels like an injection of iron straight into the bloodstream. The juicy medallions had a lovely coating of heady spices and botanicals, alongside a subtle green coriander puree and stock reduction, both of which I had difficulty finishing. By this stage of a French-bistro-style dinner, nobody is craving more sauce. <\/p>\n
So much of Return\u2019s magic is in the stuff that happens in between \u2013 a warm hand-towel after snacks to clean up and refresh, a surprise set of petit fours balanced on some of the most ornate hand-made ceramics I\u2019ve come across (apparently bespoke from Mr Potter studio, whose other clients are Paris Butter and Blue Duck station). <\/p>\n
They finished the meal by offering a sample of a sort of palate cleanser experiment: labneh cucumber sorbet with luscious caviar piled on top, finished with olive oil. <\/p>\n
Return restaurant in Ponsonby. Photo \/ Babiche Martens<\/p>\n
I should warn you that this sort of quality, combined with this sort of geography, is not cheap. Expect to spend at least $400 for two if you\u2019re drinking (the tasting menus start at $165) \u2013 a tough proposition, though the almost full house suggested enough Aucklanders are feeling flush right now to make this work. <\/p>\n
Hopefully, this continues through the honeymoon period and on into winter. Return is right up there with Ahi and Paris Butter; it\u2019s the world-class restaurant Ponsonby Rd has been missing. <\/p>\n
Address: 171 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby <\/p>\n
Contact: 09 883 7165, return.nz, @return_restaurant<\/p>\n
Hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 5-10pm <\/p>\n
From the menu: marrow and kina doughnut $22, mushroom and sourdough $18, salmon $38, duck $40, venison $56 <\/p>\n
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don\u2019t delay.<\/p>\n
According to dining-out editor Jesse Mulligan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been highly anticipated but does it live up to its promise? I\u2019ve never been asked so much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[50243,1558,6435,156,50242,302,2537,193862,4960,30506,2538,117,111,139,69,26890,10010,2539,1527,763],"class_list":["post-425005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-anticipated","tag-been","tag-does","tag-entertainment","tag-highly","tag-its","tag-jesse","tag-lamberts","tag-live","tag-matt","tag-mulligan","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ponsonby","tag-promise","tag-restaurant","tag-return","tag-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}